1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to techniques of vacuum processing apparatuses.
2. Discussion of the Relevant Art
Reference numeral 101 in FIG. 5 shows a conventional vacuum processing apparatus. The vacuum processing apparatus 101 has a carrying-in-and-out chamber 110 and a processing chamber 130.
The processing chamber 130 is connected to the carrying-in-and-out chamber 110 in an airtight manner at a position above the carrying-in-and-out chamber 110 so that a substrate disposed inside the carrying-in-and-out chamber 110 can be carried into and out the inside of the processing chamber 130 without exposing the substrate to the outside air.
A plurality of substrates can be disposed inside the carrying-in-and-out chamber 110. The substrate subjected to etching inside the processing chamber 130 is returned from the processing chamber 130 to the carrying-in-and-out chamber 110; and thereafter, another substrate that has not been subjected to etching is carried into the processing chamber 130.
After repeating etching a number of times, the inside of the processing chamber 130 is contaminated by a processing gas. Therefore, after a set number of times of etching, etching is suspended. Then, the processing chamber 130 is removed from the carrying-in-and-out chamber 110, and a new processing chamber 130 is attached to the carrying-in-and-out chamber 110. After that, etching process is restarted.
The operation for removing a component attached to an exterior wall of the processing chamber 130 so as to separate the processing chamber 130 from the carrying-in-and-out chamber 110 is performed manually. Since the processing chamber 130 is disposed above the carrying-in-and-out chamber 110, people use steps or the like to perform the removing operation. However, since the processing chamber 130 is extremely heavy, the removing operation for the processing chamber 130 that is located in a high place has been dangerous.
In particular, due to recent increase in the substrate size, the processing chamber 130 also is getting larger, which makes an exchange operation of the processing chamber 130 significantly dangerous. The above-mentioned related art is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication 2000-182967.
The present invention was achieved to solve the above problems in the conventional systems, and the object thereof is to provide a vacuum processing apparatus that allows an easy operation for exchanging processing chambers.